REAL ESTATE: Past the Peak?

The sun shone warm in Miami last week as
real-estate men convened for the 45th annual convention of the National
Association of Real Estate Boards. Nevertheless, there was a slight
chill in the air; the real-estate men felt that the big building boom
had passed its peak, though they still looked for plenty of business.
Construction statistics had not started to decline; housing starts this
year were still running ahead of 1951. But from the tales the realtors
swapped, the sales of new houses across the country were softer than at
any time since the war. Good houses still sold...